The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) appreciates the opportunity to
submit testimony on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 appropriation for the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The ASM is the largest single life
science organization in the world, with more than 43,000 members who work in
academic, industrial, medical, and governmental institutions. The ASM’s mission
is to enhance the science of microbiology, to gain a better understanding of
life processes, and to promote the application of this knowledge for improved
plant, animal and human health, and for economic and environmental well-being.

The USDA sponsors research and education programs which contribute to solving
agricultural problems of high national priority and ensuring food availability,
quality and safety, as well as a competitive agricultural economy. U.S.
agriculture faces new challenges, including threats from emerging infectious
diseases in plants and animals, climate change, and public concern about food
safety and security. It is critical to increase the visibility and investment in
agriculture research to respond to these challenges. ASM urges Congress
to provide increased funding for research programs within the USDA in FY 2006.

Microbiological research in agriculture is vital to understanding and finding
solutions to foodborne diseases, endemic diseases of long standing, new and
emerging plant and animal diseases, development of new agriculture products and
processes and addressing existing and emerging environmental challenges.
Unfortunately, federal investment in agricultural research has not kept pace
with the need for additional agricultural research to solve emerging problems.
According to National Science Foundation (NSF) data, agriculture research makes
up only 4 percent of federal funds devoted to basic research. According to the
USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) report, Agricultural Research and
Development: Public and Private Investments Under Alternative Markets and
Institutions, the rate of return on public investment in basic agricultural
research is estimated to be between 60 and 90 percent.

USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grants
ProgramThe National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program
(NRI) was established in 1991 in response to recommendations outlined in
Investing in Research: A Proposal to Strengthen the Agricultural, Food and
Environmental System, a 1989 report by the National Research Council’s
(NRC) Board on Agriculture. This publication called for increased funding of
high priority research that is supported by USDA through a competitive
peer-review process directed at:

Increasing the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.

Improving human health and well-being through an abundant, safe, and
high-quality food supply.

Sustaining the quality and productivity of the natural resources and the
environment upon which agriculture depends.

Continued interest in and support of the NRI is reflected in two subsequent
NRC reports, Investing in the National Research Initiative: An Update of the
Competitive Grants Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, published
in 1994, and National Research Initiative: A Vital Competitive Grants
Program in Food, Fiber, and Natural Resources Research, published in 2000.

Today, the NRI, housed within USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education,
and Extension Service (CSREES), supports research on key problems of national
and regional importance in biological, environmental, physical, and social
sciences relevant to agriculture, food, and the environment on a peer-reviewed,
competitive basis. Additionally, NRI enables USDA to develop new partnerships
with other federal agencies that advance agricultural science. An example of
such collaboration is USDA’s partnership with the NSF on the Microbe Project.

In FY 2004, NRI was able to fund only 11 percent of the grant proposals it
received, while agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the
NSF fund between 20-30 percent. ASM urges Congress to fund NRI at the
President’s requested level of $250 million in FY 2006. NRI’s requested
increase comes from the proposal to shift CSREES Integrated Activities, such as
food safety and water quality, making up $40 million of the proposed $70 million
increase, and to reallocate funds from the CSREES formula grants to the NRI in
the administration’s effort to eliminate the formula grant programs by FY 2007.
If new funds cannot be found, ASM supports the proposed 50 percent reduction of
formula grant funds, part of which will be redirected to the NRI, and the
remaining 50 percent be phased out over a 3-year period rather than a 1-year
period of time, giving the institutions currently receiving formula grants time
to adjust. ASM supports the Administration’s effort to increase competitively
awarded funding mechanisms and believes that competitive grants ensure the best
science.

Additional funding for the NRI is needed to expand research in microbial
genomics and to provide more funding for merit reviewed basic research with
long-term potential for new discoveries and products. ASM supports the
President’s requested level of $250 million for NRI.

USDA Food and Agriculture Defense InitiativeThe Food and
Agriculture Defense Initiative is an interagency initiative to improve the
federal government’s capability to rapidly identify and characterize a
bioterrorist attack, by improving the national surveillance capabilities in
human health, food, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. ASM supports the
President’s request for this initiative within the USDA budget of $376 million
for FY 2006, an increase of $78 million over FY 2005. Of this total, $59 million
is for the completion of the USDA’s National Centers for Animal Health in Ames,
Iowa. This funding will go towards:

Expanding the National Plant Disease Recovery System to ensure disease
resistant seed varieties are continually developed and made available to
producers in the event of a natural or intentional catastrophic disease or pest
outbreak;

Substantially expanding the Regional Diagnostic Network with links to the
National Agricultural Pest Information System;

Establishing a Higher Education Agrosecurity Program for capacity building
grants to universities for interdisciplinary degree programs to prepare food
defense professionals;

Substantially enhancing the monitoring and surveillance of pests and
diseases in plants and animals, including targeted National wildlife
surveillance;

Establishing connectivity with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
integration and analysis to improve biosurveillance of pests and diseases in
plants;

Increasing activities to safeguard plants from intentional threats to spread
pests and diseases;

Strengthening the system to track biological disease agents;

Improving USDA’s ability to respond to a disease outbreak, including
increasing supplies of vaccines for the National Veterinary Stockpile;

Providing funds for completing the consolidated state-of-the-art BSL-3
animal research and diagnostic laboratory at Ames, Iowa; and

ASM believes there should be greater emphasis on research in the Food and
Agriculture Defense Initiative. ASM recommends an increase in funding,
both extramurally and intramurally, for research on pathogenic microorganisms as
part of the Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative.

Food SafetyEach year foodborne pathogens cause 76
million human illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, 5,200 deaths, and an unknown
number of chronic conditions, according to the CDC (ERS: Economics of
Foodborne Disease: Feature, 2005). The USDA’s Economic Research Service
(ERS) estimates that the medical costs, productivity losses, and costs of
premature deaths for diseases caused by just five foodborne pathogens exceeds
$6.9 billion per year in the United States. The USDA plays a vital role in the
government’s effort to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness. Continued and
sustained research is important to safeguarding the nation’s food supply and
focusing on methods and technologies to prevent microbial foodborne disease and
emerging pathogens. The most significant outcome of food safety research is to
provide greater public health protection which, in part, can be measured by
reductions in the incidence of foodborne illnesses. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reports that the 2003 incidence of illness caused by four
major foodborne pathogens exceed the levels outlined in the National Health
Objectives for 2010 (CDC: MMWR, April 30, 2004). Although increases are
requested for the Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative and the Food Safety
and Inspection Service, we note that a reduction in funding for food safety
within ARS has been proposed, and level funding is requested within CSREES.
Without a sustained significant increase in the level of food safety research
funding, meeting the National Health Objectives for 2010 in all likelihood will
not become reality. ASM recommends a substantial increase in food safety
research, which is essential to ensure the protection of the nation’s health.

Genomics InitiativeThe NRI and the ARS fund USDA
collaborative efforts in the field of genomics. There are opportunities to
leverage USDA investments with those of the NIH, the Department of Energy, and
the NSF in projects to map and sequence the genomes of agriculturally important
species of plants, animals, and microbes. Determining the function of the
sequenced genomes (functional genomics) and analyses of the data
(bioinformatics) now need investment for new management techniques and tools.
USDA plays an important role in coordinating and participating in interagency
workgroups on domestic animal, microbial, and plant genomics. Access to genomic
information and the new tools to utilize it have implications for virtually all
aspects of agriculture. An increase of $11 million has been requested for the
NRI in FY 2006 to support investments in the sequencing and annotation of the
maize and swine genomes. A $9.2 million increase in animal and plant genomics
research within the ARS has been requested. ASM supports the requested
increases for the genomics initiative and USDA.

Emerging Infectious Diseases in Plants and AnimalsThe
food production and distribution system in the U.S. is vulnerable to the
introduction of pathogens and toxins through natural processes, global commerce,
and intentional means. The ASM supports increases in the USDA research
budget for emerging diseases and invasive species. Nearly 200 zoonotic
diseases can be naturally transmitted from animals to man and opportunistic
plant pathogens and soil inhabiting microorganisms can be causal agents of
infection and disease in humans. For emerging diseases to be effectively
detected and controlled the biology, ecology, and mechanism(s) for pathogenicity
of the causal pathogens must be understood and weaknesses exploited to limit
their impact. This research will help address the risk to humans from emerging
diseases and opportunistic pathogens, and will ensure the safety of plant and
animal products. Additionally, expanded research is needed to accelerate the
development of information and technologies for the protection of United States
agricultural commodities,, wildlife and human health against emerging diseases.

Antimicrobial Resistance ResearchThe USDA plays a key
role in addressing the national and global increase in antimicrobial resistance
and the complex issues surrounding this public health threat. The ARS Strategic
Plan for 2003-2007 states the need to “determine how antimicrobial resistance is
acquired, transmitted, maintained, in food-producing animals, and develop
technologies or altered management strategies to control its occurrence.” In
1996, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the USDA established
the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) to monitor
trends in antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens; the USDA has expanded
monitoring to include the Collaboration on Animal Health Food Safety
Epidemiology (CAHFSE) program. USDA support for these projects should continue.
USDA research also has a vital role to play in controlling the emergence of
resistance in pathogens associated with food through NRI funded grants. USDA
research also has a vital role to play in controlling the emergence of
resistance in pathogens associated with food through NRI funded grants.
ASM urges Congress to increase support for antimicrobial resistance
surveillance, research, prevention, and control programs.

ConclusionThe USDA’s mission and goals of leadership on
food, agriculture, and natural resources, based on sound public policy, the best
available science, and efficient management should be supported. With a
significant investment in research, USDA will be better able to meet its goals.
ASM urges Congress to provide sufficient funding for research at USDA by
increasing funding for agricultural research programs, including providing $250
million for NRI in FY 2006.

The ASM appreciates the opportunity to provide written testimony and would be
pleased to assist the Subcommittee as the Department of Agriculture bill is
considered throughout the appropriations process.